Rick Scott on Jobs

State should support early-stage businesses to create jobs

Cutting taxes alone will not be enough to diversify our economy and allow Florida to become first for jobs. That is why we are asking for your support to reform our business incentive process at Enterprise Florida to create the new
Florida Enterprise Fund. The creation of this new $250 million dedicated trust fund will help us diversify Florida's economy, support small business, and become the number one place in the world for families to get a good paying job.

Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Florida legislature
, Jan 12, 2016

Opposed increasing the minimum wage

For the roughly 7 percent of voters who remain undecided there were plenty of clear differences to consider:

Crist wants the state to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid coverage. Scott said he'd only temporarily expand
Medicaid if it were 100 percent federally funded.

FactCheck: Yes, unemployment up; but stimulus has helped

Scott often talks about job growth that happens under his watch and takes credit for it: "The four years before I became governor, the state had lost 825,000 jobs. Unemployment had gone from 3.5% to 11.1%. We incurred another $5.2 billion, I think,
worth of debt," Scott said in December 2012.

Scott got his numbers right but missed the mark for implying the state's recession was the result of poor handling by Crist. Experts told us Florida's economy tanked largely as a result of the housing
market crisis, which included a tornado of issues over which Crist had little to no control. We rated his claim Half True.

During his first campaign, Scott stated that the "stimulus has not created one private sector job."
But we found thousands of Floridians employed because of stimulus-funded programs--not to mention jobs for a company in which Scott owns stock. We rate Scott's statement "Pants on Fire!"

High unemployment compensation deters job creation

Another government program with good intentions and potentially dangerous side-effects is our system of unemployment compensation. In times of high unemployment, the system provides a critical safety net. But its rising costs, which are borne by the very
employers who are struggling to stay in business, threaten to create even more job losses. The costs of unemployment insurance cannot be allowed to deter job creation. By working with the legislature, we will bring those costs down.

Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Florida legislature
, Mar 8, 2011

7 Steps; 700,000 jobs; 7 years

The career politicians in Tallahassee have done little to jumpstart our economy. But then again, how can you get our economic wheels in motion when you've never balanced a budget, been forced to meet payroll, or created a job? Face it, if the career
politicians knew how to get us out of this recession, they would have done it already.

That's why it's time for a conservative outsider with real-world business experience to take charge. I am the only candidate with a comprehensive plan that will get
our fiscal house in order, balance the budget, & create long-term, good-paying jobs. The plan isn't complex. In fact, it's very simple. And it's common sense. I've created jobs in the private sector. As governor, these 7 steps will create 700,000 jobs in
7 years: